Dragon's Lair (NES)

The NES Dragon's Lair is a rather underwhelming and infuriating platformer based on Don Bluth's famous Laserdisc game.

Sub-Page#

Notes

Source Code#

Watch on YouTube

While the US version uses a 128KB ROM, the Japanese and European ones use 256KB ROMs. As a result, the latter two have a lot of unused space filled with garbage, leftovers from MS-DOS executables, and more.

Still, there's a lot of source code within said garbage.

Combined Source#

The Japanese and European versions contain different portions of their source code which can be compiled into one huge file, covering almost all of program banks 30-39. There are some differences between the two versions, and it appears the Japanese one was done earlier.

Regional Differences#

To do: New enemy in the final stage in the PAL version, plus some color differences in the Japanese and PAL versions, among other things.

Framerate improvements aside, several notable differences exist between the US/Japanese and European versions of the game.

Copyright Screen#

US	Japan	Europe

The Japanese and European versions removed Don Bluth's and the registered symbol from the logo.

The European version added ™ and shifted most of the content slightly to the left, becoming out of center.

US	Japan	Europe

The Japanese version changed Don Bluth's to Sullivan Bluth's. The European version's Sullivan Bluth's text was different from the Japanese version and was readjusted.

The Japanese version only rewrote the copyright text, the European version recolored it from gray to blue and slightly adjusted it.

Title Screens#

US	Japan	Europe

The logo on the title screen has the same aforementioned changes.

Splash Screens#

These screens were added to the European version and appear as you enter each stage. Oddly, the dungeon does not have one. The splash screen for the Entrance Hall depicts a boss that was added for this version, detailed below.

Interestingly, while these are still entirely functional in the Japanese version, they have been stubbed out with a rts.

Entrance Hall Boss#

US/Japan	Europe

A giant snake boss was added to the European version, which replaces the multiple snake enemies at the end of the Entrance Hall. The boss shoots projectiles either directly at you or towards the floor as you try to hit it in the face.

Spider#

US/Japan	Europe

For some reason, this spider enemy only appears in the European version. Touching it is an instant kill. Only seen in the Entrance Hall. They replace some of the snake enemies from the US version.

Flying Insects#

In Entrance Hall, Bats fly out of the openings in the US version, while the European version uses flying insects of some sort.

Death Animation#

When Dirk gets flattened in the European and Japanese versions, you get a unique animation of him getting stuffed inside his helmet with only his feet visible and walking around for a bit. In the US version, you get the usual skeleton death for everything.

The Elevator Shaft#

The European version was made a bit harder here with added projectiles flying around the elevator shaft. Touching one is instant death.

The Dungeon#

The European version has an exclusive bonus area accessible from the Elevator Shaft, where you can pick-up either the Axe or the Fireball.

The Mines#

When approaching the boss, US version will not switch scenes, while Japanese version and European version will switch scenes immediately.

Whenever the boss is hit, it won't flash in the American version, but will in the Japanese and European versions.

Reaper's Domain#

The vertical-moving skull enemies go down to the ground in the North American version, making them harder to avoid. The Japanese and European versions have the enemies move back up before they touch the ground.

North America	Europe/Japan

Also, the Grim Reaper's room was a bit different, in that the Japanese and European versions add holes to the floor.

Music#

The music plays faster in the Japanese version. Also, as with most PAL games, the music plays a half-step/semitone flat of what the USA version sounds like. Some songs in the European version play faster compared to the USA version, while other songs play slower.

Ending Theme#

A few notes were changed in the game's ending theme in the Japanese and European versions at about 0:24.

Here are the notes from that bar written in MML for easier understanding,

US version:

E4+q. D4+8 D4+h. A3+q B3+q C4+q D4+w 

European/Japanese version:

E4+q. D4+8 D4+h. A3+8 B3+8 C4+q D4+q D+w

High Scores#

There were a couple minor tweaks to the high scores between the US, European, and Japanese versions.

• The place for SBIM was swapped from 3rd place in the US version to 4th place in the European and Japanese versions.
• The 3rd (U)/4th (E/J) scores represent the publishers for their respective companies; CSG, Elite, and Epic.

Speed Differences#

The Japanese and European version uses an MMC3 mapper. As a result, the game is more responsive compared to the US version which uses an UNROM mapper.

Controls#

The international versions use B to jump and Start for the candle. Since the Famicom's Controller 2 does not have Select or Start buttons, these were remapped to Up and B respectively.

As a side effect, the jumping is much trickier in the Japanese version, especially when trying to perform precise jumps.

Ending#

The European and Japanese versions make some rather unnecessary changes to the ending text.

North America	Europe/Japan

• The exclamation points in CONGRATULATIONS ! and OUR HERO HAS TRIUMPHED ! were removed. The latter text was moved to the right a little bit to better center it.
• The last line removes the question mark from the North American release.